We are thrilled to have partnered with our advertising sponsor Time Out Sitters, owned by two local moms for this sponsored post. Time Out Sitters works with a number of families in San Antonio to provide top-notch babysitting services.
A Life-Long Friendship
We’re sure you’ve heard about how our beautiful friendship was formed in a sixth grade classroom back in 1991. You can check out our story on our NEW website (we’re pretty excited about this–many of you know it has been a LOOOONG time coming and it’s finally here!).
What you can’t read about on our website is how this business is like one of our children. There are days we want to send it to its room, and days we wonder how we lived for so long without it! Just like our kids, Time Out Sitters makes us worry, makes us laugh and cry, and sometimes requires all of our attention. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
We take what we do very seriously and know that we are taking care of the most important part of your life!
Let’s start at the beginning
We’ve always dreamt of starting a business together. Our entrepreneurial spirit and drive to make something for ourselves by doing something together was a constant topic of conversation. Thank goodness TOS came along before a new-fangled company was started; ideas under consideration were a hot sandwich cookbook for stay-at-home moms and a clothing boutique for kids and dogs (at the time, Tiffany had kids and Katie only had dogs). Flashback to a little more than four years ago, after Katie had been able to stay home for the first year with her son: she was desperately trying to figure how to be not only a maternal contributor but a monetary one as well. Through all the searching, an opportunity landed in her lap at a playgroup birthday party where she was introduced to a fellow mom who spoke these words to her: “Hi! Do you know anyone who would want to buy a business?” The rest is history in the making. Katie’s drive and superb customer service quickly took Time Out Sitters far beyond anything she could handle solo. The next step came quite naturally; Tiffany came on as a part-timer until it was clear to the both of them that it was time to live the dream of owning a business together.
A Little Time Out Sitters Insight
Those of you who have used the service may already have an idea of the passion and commitment we have for Time Out Sitters. We always say that we are not hiring just a warm body; we want sitters who are active, excited and engaged. If we wouldn’t have them watch our own children, then we will not allow them to watch your children. It’s the TOS rule of thumb.
But remember what we said about taking care of the most important part of your life? Here’s what we do differently than the others. We only hire sitters who are referred to us and we don’t hire everyone who applies. The sitters complete an application and then go through an additional screening, which includes a fun test. From there, we select the applicants to interview. We personally interview them AND speak with their references. We feel that talking to references really allows us to get to learn about the sitter in a way that emailing a form does not. The sitters then go through a new-sitter orientation before we start sending them to your house. Of course, we do all the necessary checks; read about those on our NEW website.
What many may not know is that job booking is a strategic art. We (and by “we,” we mean most of the time Tiffany) look at every request and match a sitter accordingly. We personally know every sitter, their age range experience, their schedules, and their personalities. It’s like a real-life game of Tetris—configuring all the shapes (sitters) in the perfect order and not leaving any holes (unconfirmed jobs) so you can make a line (send confirmation) and win the game (happy families). It’s sometimes challenging, but Tiffany is a magician! It is a hands-on process, which is why we have so many satisfied families coming back over and over.
We know we aren’t perfect. We work with people. And things happen. Just like last-minute things come up for your family, it happens to our people, too. Either way, when we have to make the phone call to tell you that your sitter is sick, we have knots in our stomachs and hate making it as much as you do receiving it. We are thankful that doesn’t happen often, but until “sitterbots” are a reality, we will continue to try our hardest to avoid that phone call.
Our Dream Becomes Reality and Beyond
We still wake up excited about what we get to do everyday. Our passion and commitment evolved TOS into a business more successful than we could have ever imagined. We are so thankful that so many in the Alamo City have come to rely on us; we have come to rely on you, too! We seriously are here for you—from scheduling, communicating, searching, hiring, and figuring out every detail in order to make time out for parents simple. We will always go the extra mile for you because we are moms and we know how much easier life can be when someone lends a reliable, trustworthy helping hand. It takes a village and we happen to have a village of sitters ready any day, any time!
We joke that one day we will be “lunching” with friends and the jobs will book themselves. Until that day comes, you can find us lunching at the office (with lunch we brought from home) and working hard to hook everyone up with a sitter their family will love!
Check out our NEW website, logo, and branding. More improvements to the customer portal, where your bookings are managed, will be ongoing through the end of the year. Think update your own profile. Think cancel a job online. Think pay with your credit card.
Everyday we are thankful that the dream of building a business together is now a reality. Together we’re constantly dreaming, the new dream—perhaps a new market . . . .
XOXO,
Tiffany and Katie